Lala Remakes Itself–Again

Lala.com began life as a powerful music CD trading site (that this author reviewed for PC Magazine back in 2006). It offered the feel of a High Fidelity-style used music store, but online. Then last year, the company added a digital streaming service that worked with iPods.

“The site went out of its way to broker big money deals with record labels in order to offer something akin to a free alternative to the unlimited streaming of Napster and Rhapsody,” AppScout blogger Brian Heater reports. “It was a good idea, but one that was quickly overshadowed by imeem’s success with similar initiatives.”

So they canned it. But now Lala is trying something different—and a little bizarre. The report said that while the company is still offering 50 free streaming tracks, anything beyond that will cost 10 cents for an infinite stream of a song. “You can stream from any computer with an Internet connection, but if you’re looking for some on-the-go action, you’ll have buy the thing at a discounted rate,” the report said. Not only that, but the site will now let you stream any song you’ve “confirmed ownership of.”

Is the third time the charm? We’d like to see Lala offer more mobile options, a la Pandora or Sprint Music, if they’re going to go this route.